Prof Ram’s poem explores the speaker’s detached repetition of prayer juxtaposed with the stark reality of societal exclusion and encroaching darkness on their walk, exclusively for Different Truths.

So many times, I chanted the prayer
from childhood to now, I forget
what I pray for or want to repeat
mantras while walking at dusk or seeing
images on the lingam that stir
the flame Shiva harnesses deep within
 
my numbed feet before growling dogs
trained to ignore strangers whose lips don’t utter
their names or those who aren’t free
on a leash like them
I fail to filter the chasing darkness
from the roadside temple to Sarna Enclave

Picture design by Anumita Roy

Prof Ram Krishna Singh

Ram Krishna Singh is a widely published, anthologised, and translated poet with over 25 poetry collections to his credit. His recent poetry collections include Covid-19 And Surge of Silence/Kovid-19 Hem Sessízlík Tolkȋnȋ (English/Tatar, 2021), Silence: A White Distrust (English/Japanese, Kindle Edition/Paperback, 2022), Poems and Micropoems (Southern Arizona Press, USA, 2023) and Knocking Vistas and Other Poems.